French Toast Casserole( cooking light).....

I put this casserole together before I went to sleep on Saturday night. It was super easy to make and the best part was that I used up ingredients I already had on hand. I substituted a mixed berry fruit jam for the marmalade and almonds for the walnuts. I cut the recipe in half too. I really liked it, but Robin said it was just "ok"


Ingredients
3 tablespoons butter, softened
1 (16-ounce) sourdough French bread loaf, cut into 24 (1/2-inch) slices
Cooking spray
1 (12-ounce) jar orange marmalade
2 3/4 cups 1% low-fat milk
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
6 large eggs
1/3 cup finely chopped walnuts


Preparation
Spread softened butter on one side of each bread slice. Arrange 12 bread slices, buttered side down, slightly overlapping in a single layer in a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Spread marmalade evenly over bread; top with remaining 12 bread slices, buttered side up.
Combine milk and next 4 ingredients (through eggs), stirring with a whisk. Pour egg mixture over bread. Cover and refrigerate 8 hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350°.

Sprinkle casserole with walnuts. Bake at 350° for 45 minutes or until golden. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Yield
12 servings (serving size: 1 piece)

The Best Effing French Toast....

Holy God was this good. It's just your basic french toast batter( eggs, milk, vanilla, cinnamon) with the most incredible, light, rich, fluffy brioche. This is Tom's brioche and man am I glad I snagged some to take home with me. Thankfully, I dont have anymore of this bread, or else I'd want to eat it every weekend for breakfast. It was just so dang good!!! Robin loved it too, she even ate some blueberries. That's Ron's house cured bacon too. This was the perfect breakfast!!

This is the best I can do......

I really havent been cooking much lately and when I do cook, I usually make something familar that I've blogged about before. For instance, last week I made Chicken Parmesean and on Monday, I made Zucchini bread( a great recipe, btw). When its hot outside, I only want to eat salad, fruit and icecream. We had a few really hot days, but then it cooled off yesterday. I do have a pork tenderloin in the fridge that I'd like to do something different to.

Anyway, I started a new job and frankly, the food there is not my style of cooking. Really, I feel like I'm just preparing food( instant puddings, sandwiches, reheating roasts that were cooked by someone else). Obviously, I'm being kind here, I could say a lot more, but ya never know who is reading. At my previous job( the caterer), I always made the staff lunch and tasted what I was cooking throughout the day. At this new job, I bring my own lunch and rarely taste anything( that should speak volumes). Do you want to hear the funny part? I'm making more money now than I was at the previous job. Crazy I say!! Anyway, I need to suck it up because its only a casual job. I dont have a set schedule, so I can turn down shifts if I I dont want to work on that particular day. So far, I'm only scheduled for 3 shifts in August.

I also still have the other job( Cooking for seniors). I do that tonight and I fill in next week on Tuesday and Wednesday. I like that job. I can cook what I want and I love introducing the Seniors to new and LOCAL or nonlocal foods.

Obviously, the above pictures have nothing to do with all the drivel I just wrote. June 19th was our 4yr wedding anniversary. I've wanted the cuisinart griddler for months now and I waited patiently until our anniversary. I'm usually the type of person who buys what I want, when I want it. However, Marriage is about compromise, so I patiently waited. But then, the griddler wasnt availble on Amazon( only thru another merchant and I didnt want to pay shipping charges) so I waited some more. About 2 weeks ago, it was on sale at Canadian Tire and I had a 10dollar off coupon so I got permission from Robin( LOL!!) to buy it. I used the griddle portion to make blueberry pancakes on Sunday. I still havent used the panini maker( well, I have at the caterer, just not since I bought it). I will this weekend though.

The picture of Oliver is just so cute. I checked out a bunch of library books and he planted himself on one. It looks like he's reading a cookbook. Oh, btw, the book is fix it and forget it lightly. I figured I'd pull out the crock pot and attempt to make something in it last Saturday because I dont get home from work until 7pm. I asked Robin if she'd like sweet and sour chicken. She said Yes. The cooking time was grossly exagerated. It took 4 hrs on low, not 6-7 and the chicken was like chewing gum. I choked down a few bites( Robin declined) and the rest went in the trash.

Top Secret Recipes......

Yesterday, I received a couple of cookbooks in the mail courtesy of the "free cookbook" thread over on egullet. Top Secret Recipes and Top Secret Recipes light intrigued me because once a week, I get a free top secret recipe by email. I've yet to make anything,but thats beside the point. : )

I whipped up a batch of 100% white whole wheat bread using the bread machine and coicindentally, Robin asked for french toast this morning. I used the top secret recipe for IHOP's French Toast. The secret is adding 3tbls of flour to the egg mixture to make a little thicker coating. It actually worked. Robin proclaimed this very good. Of course, my bread was good, so thats probably half of it right there.

Speaking of Robin, she is starting South Beach tomorrow so the meals around here will be rather boring for her first two weeks of Induction. I'm going to bake something for the next Sugar High Friday and look back thru my archives for something to post.

Oh, I start another job on Thursday. I'll be cooking for 50 seniors, twice a month. Check out that thread for more info.

Andy's Fairfield Granola........

Now that I've finally succeded in getting Robin to eat breakfast( activia yogurt and granola) I thought it was time I finally make my own granola. She's been eating some Nature's Path Soy granola I brought back from Whole Foods in Ann Arbor, but that box is almost gone. I've had this recipe on my To Make list for awhile. I don't know why I waited so long. Its so easy and so good. The entire recipe calls for 2tbls of oil( safflower being the reccommended oil). I had some wonderful hazelnut oil in the fridge so I used that for some extra flavor. I also subbed dried cranberries for the raisins. Nigella says this recipe comes from a shop in Fairfield, CT. She was there on her book tour for Forever Summer. She said she ate this everyday and brought tons of it back to the UK. I can see why!!

4.5 cups rolled oats
1 cup sunflower seeds
¾ cup sesame seeds
¾ cup apple sauce
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ginger
⅓ cup brown rice syrup, (OR rice malt syrup, OR golden syrup) I used golden syrup.
¼ cup honey
¾ cup light brown sugar
2 cups whole almonds
1 tsp. sea salt
2 tbsp. sunflower oil
2 cups raisins
1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

2.Mix everything (except the raisins) together.

3. Spread on baking sheets and bake for 40-60 minutes (till evenly golden, after one turning).

4. Cool and add raisins.

Notes:
One variation: replace almonds with raw peanuts and add 1/4 cup cocoa powder to seeds and oats at the outset. Skip the raisins.

Morning Glory Muffins( KA whole grain baking)

I've had my eye on the KA Whole Grain baking book for a while now so when I got an amazon gift certificate for doing some survey's, I wasted no time in buying it. What an amazing book, every single recipe uses whole grains. There are cakes and breads and brownies and even whole grain croissants. I can't wait to start baking.

The first recipe I made were these muffins. I used 100% white whole wheat( KA's light wheat flour). The recipe stated that regular whole wheat flour was ok too. Btw, for my Canadian readers, I buy my King Arthur flour in Michigan, sadly, its not sold in Canada.

Shredded carrot, apple, coconut and nuts( I left out) are added. A small amount of orange juice and a larger amount of oil are added along with some warming spices. They smell fantastic baking. Chelsea and Robin really loved them too.